Drivers with convictions
Request ID: FOI-0376-1920
Date published: 29 May 2019
You asked
The number of licenced London taxi drivers (hackney carriage) with conviction for;
1. Common assualt
2. Drink driving
3. Dangerous driving
The number of private hire drives with convictions for
1. Common assualt
2. Drink driving
3. Dangerous driving
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0376-1920
Thank you for your email of 6th May 2019 asking for information about licenced London taxi drivers with convictions for common assault, drink driving and dangerous driving.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
To ensure the safety of the travelling public, taxi and private hire drivers must meet a range of strict criteria to ensure they are of good character. This is assessed on the basis of an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check submitted as part of a licence application, information provided by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and any other information that comes to our attention.
Once a decision regarding a driver's application has been made the results of the DBS check have to be destroyed. This is in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice which has statutory backing. Therefore, we do not hold all details of convictions and cautions, only those that have been declared to us by the driver.
Licensed drivers are obliged to notify us within 21 days if they have been disqualified from driving or have been cautioned, charged, or convicted of any criminal offence - including any road traffic offences. This requirement is clearly stated in the letter that accompanies all driver licences.
To provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004, as we would need to individually check in excess of 23,000 individual taxi driver records to identify, extract and collate this information. The information requested is not held in a reportable format and we have estimated that manually checking this data would considerably exceed the set limit.
To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider reframing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking.
In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please feel free to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely,
David Wells
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
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